Road to Recovery
by MoldyMoo
Summary: Set during Cars 3. The three months we didn't see after the wreck while Lightning recovers... ALL HUMAN.
1. The Wreck

**This takes place during Lightning's three months of recovery in Cars 3. I'm going to TRY and make it seem like it would fit, but there's going to be a little that might not because….they're all human in this, and I didn't really care for the whole** _ **three months later Sally has a 3 minute conversation with him and he perks back up**_ **nonsense…**

 **Let me know what you think…**

 **Chapter 1: The Wreck**

His breath was coming in short, shallow gasps. He couldn't even hear his friends in his ear anymore. Distantly, he recognized the sounds of fans cheering in the stands, the announcers' voices echoing through the stadium. But he felt detached, like he was experiencing the race through a tunnel.

" _Lighting McQueen is fading! He's fading fast!"_

That one comment shot through him like a bullet, and he physically recoiled as it hit him hard. He blinked and realized he'd fallen behind, his speed decreasing rapidly. In a desperate attempt to catch up, he ground his teeth in fury and frustration and slammed his foot down on the pedal.

The frame of the car rattled with a speed it couldn't handle. "Come on," he snapped at it. "Don't do this to me now."

His eyes widened as time seemed to slow, both rear tires blowing simultaneously with a gunshot-like blast behind him. He remembered that sound, he knew immediately what it was and what was about to happen.

No.

And then he was flying through the air, staring at the ground through his windshield. The car twisted as it landed on its roof and tumbled across the grass. Pain was all he felt as soon as the car hit the ground the first time, increasing with every impact. It was an explosion of pain and colors and sound. His arm, his leg, his hand slamming into the steering wheel, the dashboard, the door…

And then darkness…

-x-

Sally watched the scene play out in front of her in horror, fingers twitching helplessly in front of her as if by simply reaching out she could halt the scene in front of her. The crowd grew silent, some of the other racers not yet aware of what had happened. And then she took off out of the pit, sprinting across the field. Her chest constricted painfully and she couldn't catch her breath as she neared the wreckage and saw no movement from him, slumped in his seat behind the shatter windshield and bent frame.

The emergency vehicles were faster than her, people jumping out and running to the driver's side of the car. One paramedic moved to her and held her back gently, hands on Sally's forearms.

"Leave me alone," she yelled at him, pushing away. "Go help _him_!"

"Miss Sally," a new, frantic voice came up to her and grabbed her arm. "Just stay back here so they can help 'im." She tried weakly to push Mater away, but he held her wrists and kept them a good distance away to give the paramedics room to work.

Some crew members were cutting the wreckage of the roof away while a paramedic was ducked down into the window, working around them. Shouts to one another were drowned out in the roar of the cars still running around them, the crowd echoing beyond that. An ambulance whirred up behind them and a stretcher was laid out next to the car.

Sally clung to Mater, her hands fisted in his sleeves as they carefully lifted Lightning out of the hole they created in the frame and dragged the stretcher away from the car so Paramedics could swarm him. She broke away from Mater and ran towards him, peoples' hands still trying to keep her away.

All she could see was a shock of his red uniform on the stretcher, his broken helmet tossed aside. No bright blue eyes looked back at her as she made her way next to him, wanting to reach out and touch him but knowing that wasn't the best idea. She called to him, but he didn't even move. His face was screwed up in pain, eyes shut tight, but otherwise motionless.

"Oh, god," she breathed, scanning the red of his suit for blood but finding none immediately from her distance. A paramedic touched her shoulder, startling her, but she still watched distractedly as a couple of the men lifted up the gurney and slid him into the back of an ambulance. Several others worked on him as they went; while one attached a neck brace, another hooked up an IV, and a third strapped an oxygen mask around his face.

"Are you family?" the woman asked next to her, who knows how many times, fingers tightening on her shoulder.

"He has no next of kin," she managed through the fog in her brain. She latched onto that thought. "He has no next of kin." Oh, god, would they even let her see him? Surely she could legally work something out? How long had they been living together? What were Arizona's laws about domestic partnerships? Shit, what state were they even in right now?

"Hey." The paramedic bent down to be eye level with Sally, a gentle pity in her eyes that made Sally flinch. "Listen carefully." She quickly gave Sally a rundown of how to get to the hospital from the track, telling her where to park and where to meet them when she got there. She was a little upset, her chest tightening over not being able to ride there with him.

Sally watched the woman jog back to the ambulance before turning back to the wreck of a car, officials picking up pieces and unceremoniously tossing them into the open windows.

"Come on," she called to Mater, who was watching them close up the ambulance, the other paramedics jumping in. She could see several of them hunched over Lightning through the windows. She glanced in the other direction at Lightning's car before dragging Mater away.

-x-

He didn't know where he was. It was dim, shaky. He couldn't keep his focus. He could feel himself dipping in and out of an unconscious darkness and he was struggling to stay afloat. He fought to open his eyes, but all he got were blurry figures. Something on his face was smothering him and he could feel a panic building up before it ebbed away as he slid back down into the dark.

The next time he surfaced, he opened his eyes, still unfocused, and tried to remove the thing from his face. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as panic took hold again. Someone grabbed his hand and squeezed it, but the sound in his ears was muffled. He thought he heard his name, but his mind turned hazy and he couldn't remember. He barely remembered who he was. Where was he?

The pain came and went, from a dull throb to a pain so sharp he couldn't breathe. Those were the times he welcomed the darkness when it took him again, just for the temporary reprieve from the pain. He was getting tired of fighting the darkness, or trying to focus, to see, to breathe. If felt like an eternity—hours, days passing so slowly. He felt like he was drowning and he wanted it to end, for the pain to end, the fighting, the tiredness, to sleep forever.

 _I didn't come all this way to see you quit._

The voice echoed in his mind and froze him to his soul. And then suddenly he was there and Lightning felt an emotion building up in him so quickly and so fiercely he felt like he would burst.

"Doc…"

The word echoed in the darkness and wrapped around him, comforting and warm. He stood in front of him in the darkness just the way Lightning remembered. His dark eyes were narrowed at him, salt and pepper hair wind tossed from standing up in the pit. He was dressed in dark slacks and a button down, his usual attire at the clinic. He hadn't changed in the last several years. Since…since…

"What are you doing here?"

 _Keep fighting, Kid, keep fighting…_

The darkness shimmered and Doc disappeared. He opened his eyes. It was brighter now, and the light hurt his eyes, but he still couldn't focus on the blurs around him. People were talking too loud and too quick around him. His head was pounding.

He closed his eyes to block everything out and wished the pain in his body would stop. It wasn't as debilitating as before, but everything in him was like broken glass.

And then Doc was before him again, his eyes narrowing further, a frown on his lips.

 _Lightning!_ he snapped, voice loud, reverberating off the walls of his mind. Those two syllables, the way Doc would say his name, like the crack of a whip when he was angry, when Lightning would push his buttons and his limits.

His eyes shot open as the pain hit him full force once more and he let out a yell, trying to scratch the suffocating contraption off his face again. Hands grabbed at him. His left arm was on fire, and he felt like he was breathing in glass, the drowning feeling returning.

Suddenly Sally was in his face and she was all he could see. She had a hand lightly on his cheek near his ear, she was saying something to him but he couldn't hear her, he couldn't pick her voice out from the sea of others rushing around her.

Sally's face began to blur and he could feel a deep, thick darkness slowly swallowing him, but it was different from before. It was warm, inviting. He fought it until he saw Doc again, taking Sally's place above him.

 _It's okay now._

And then everything was dark and nothing hurt. Lighting welcomed it.

-x-

Lighting was in surgery for four hours while they tried to put some of him back together. Sally sat in the waiting room the whole time, refusing to leave. She felt like the minute she stepped away from those doors everything would go to hell.

There were times when she honestly believed someone was about to push through those doors and tell her he was gone. At least twice nurses were sprinting in and out, all ignoring her as she begged them for an update.

Now he was in a private room, hooked up to several different machines making sure he would be okay. It was a scary sight. He was barely recognizable beneath the plastic tubing and blackened bruises. She was still worried about him. He'd regained consciousness a handful of times between the track and the hospital. The paramedics had wanted to keep him awake, but they couldn't keep him focused long enough.

It was terrifying if she were being honest…

He'd been out of surgery for a couple hours now, and nurses came and went every half hour or so checking in on him, checking his vitals and the machines and making notes on his chart at the foot of the bed. Visiting hours had ended hours ago, but the nurses seemed kind enough to let her stay, even if she wasn't legally family. She was grateful. The others had gone, Sheriff leaving behind some food for her that she hadn't had the stomach to even touch.

Sally was curled up on a stiff chair in the corner with a blanket and spare pillow a nurse had brought her when Lightning started to wake. She wasn't positive at first, a twitch of his fingers that she might have imagined, but then his head rolled to one side slowly, and she saw his eyes open, bright blue eyes staring at the ceiling.

She leaned over and switched on a lamp attached to the wall and stood, making her way to his bedside. "Hey," she greeting with a small smile, happy to see him looking a lot more coherent and mentally present than he had been the last few times his eyes had opened.

He blinked slowly and tried to reach for the oxygen mask again. She caught his wrist to stop him. "Leave that alone."

"I can't breathe," he mumbled beneath the plastic, sounding pained and tired.

"That's because you punctured a lung," she said softly, pulling a chair up closer next to the bed.

"I feel it," he said, looking at her now. "What happened?"

Her brows furrowed in concern. "You don't remember? You crashed during the race, Stickers."

"It hurts," he breathed, closing his eyes again. "Everything hurts."

She reached up to stroke his cheek with her thumb, wishing she could do more. She pressed the nurse's button to let them know he was awake. "Besides the punctured lung, you now have a couple screws in your left leg, and you broke your left arm in a couple places. Two broken ribs and a pretty severe concussion." She didn't even want to mention the surgery he would need on his knee once the leg itself had healed…

He groaned and looked at her again, reaching up sluggishly to find her hand on his face. His grip on her fingers was worryingly weak. She didn't like seeing him like this, blinded by pain and barely lucid.

"Where's Doc?" he asked and she froze, before catching herself and squeezing his hand gently. She _thought_ he had called for Doc before, when they had been dragging him into the hospital from the ambulance, but she wasn't sure.

"He's gone, Lightning."

"Where did he go?" She didn't respond, trying to come up with a good response that wouldn't unnecessarily upset him. She didn't mean to leave him hanging, but she saw the realization take over his features. "Oh. I swear I saw him. He told me not to give up."

She smiled. "He always did."

A knock at the door caught Sally's attention before an older nurse walked in with a clipboard. "Oh, good, he's awake," she said, pressing a few buttons on a machine against the wall and writing a few things down on the clipboard. She looked down at Lightning. "How ya feeling, Hun?"

"Pain," was all he said. He reached up to try and remove the oxygen mask again and the nurse gently pushed his hand away.

"Keep that on for a little longer." She looked to Sally. "I'll let the doctor know he's awake, he'll want to make some assessments, and then we can give him a little more pain medication. Try to keep him awake a little longer."

The nurse left and Sally took his hand again, lacing her fingers between his. "Hear that, Stickers? Gotta stay awake."

He hummed, but his eyes were shut.

"You don't remember the crash?" she asked him, trying to keep him talking to her, but also trying to make her own assessments.

"No," he sighed, opening his eyes.

"What's the last thing you remember?" she asked, stroking the back of his hand where the IV was taped.

"Seeing red," he muttered, eyes far away and his nose scrunched in thought. "Storm pissed me off. Then nothing."

Sally swallowed. "You blew a tire. It was so fast."

Lightning blinked for a second and then his eyes darted back to her. "Where's my car?" he demanded with as much strength as she assumed he had, which was barely anything at all.

"Don't worry about that right now," she whispered, her free hand moving to tangle in his hair. "We need to worry about you first."

"Sally," he pressed. " _Where is my car_?"

"It's at Mater's lot," she conceded. "In several pieces."

He let out a sharp breath through his nose and squeezed his eyes shut tight. "Shit."

"I told you it was bad," she breathed. "But Mater promised it's safe for now, he got everything off the track. We can look for replacement parts when you're better, okay? But you have to get better first."

Sally noticed the soft beeping of one machine picking up pace a little and she continued running her fingers against Lightning's scalp. "Come on, Stickers, you gotta calm down, okay? I swear to you everything will be okay. We'll figure it out together. I'll be here with you."

He swallowed hard, but whatever he was about to say was interrupted by another knock at the door, a white-coated doctor walking in with the nurse trailing behind him.

The doctor reminded Sally of Doc so much she winced for Lightning. Maybe that's why he thought he'd been there before.

"Lightning McQueen," the doctor grinned, standing now at the foot of the bed. "I'm Dr. Meyer. It's nice to see you awake finally." He looked down at the clipboard in his hands that the nurse had given him. "Seems you're out of the woods." He prattled on a bit, listing off what they'd accomplished with the surgery, mentioning he would need a second on his knee a month or two down the line. "Your concussion is our biggest concern right now. How much do you remember?"

Lightning's head rolled to the side to glance at Sally.

She shook her head. "You have to tell him, he needs to gauge your functionality."

"Nothing," he said, looking back at the doctor. "I remember racing and then nothing."

"Not uncommon," he shrugged, marking something down on his chart. He walked around the side of the bed and removed the oxygen mask from Lightning's face. Dr. Meyer held up a pen light and shone it in front of Lightning's eyes one at a time, causing him to wince and blink slowly. "Do you know what year it is?"

"Yes," he grunted, still blinking.

"You have to tell him, Stickers," Sally chuckled softly.

"2017."

Dr. Meyer nodded and returned to the foot of the bed. He reached down and flipped up the end of the blankets, revealing Lightning's feet, one wrapped heavily in a cast, the other with a hospital sock on. Sally watched as Lightning followed with his eyes, frowning at his own left foot like he just realized it was in a cast. "I want you to tell me if you can feel this." He reached down and squeezed the big toe in the cast.

"Yeah," Lightning breathed and Sally let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding.

Dr. Meyer squeezed the other foot. "Here?"

"Yes."

Dr. Meyer nodded, satisfied for now. He scribbled down a few notes and hung the clipboard back on the foot of the bed. "A nurse will be coming in to wake you up every hour or so because of the concussion. You may have memory problems for a bit—that's normal. You may not even remember this conversation." He smiled.

"Thank you," Sally said, standing to shake his hand.

"I'll have to get your autograph before you leave though. My kids would kill me if I didn't." He winked at Lightning who offered up a small smile.

"How long will he be here?" Sally dared to ask.

Dr. Meyer pursed his lips and crossed his arms, looking back over at Lightning. "Hard to tell. Couple weeks at best, two or three months at worst. It all depends on the next few days and how fast his recovery goes. He's going to need some rehabilitation for that leg, but that can't start until his arm heals. Once we get some basic rehab down, we can do another MRI on his knee and plan his surgery."

Sally nodded and frowned. He would be out for a good chunk of the season. It'd only just started, so maybe he wouldn't miss too much. Dr. Meyer put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll do everything we can, but it's really up to Lightning at this point."

"Right," she sighed. "Thank you."

The doctor murmured to the nurse about pain medications before leaving, and Sally returned to her chair at Lightning's side.

"I'm going to be out of the races for a while," he murmured, reaching up to his face for her hand.

She shook her head slowly, playing with his fingers between her own. "You'll need all that time to get healed up. Mater and I will help fix your car. The town will help, too, I'm sure. Lots of people are here for you until you're back on your feet."

"Doc was always the best mechanic," he frowned.

"I know." She stroked his hair again, this time trying to lull him to sleep. "And we'll do him proud, I promise. You always make him proud, too, you know. You make me proud."

Lightning sighed and closed his eyes.

 **So I had surgery when I was 12 and one of the things that I remember the most vividly was waking up after and having a panic attack over the oxygen mask on my face and being on my back. They literally fought me because I wanted the mask off and to lie on my side (which I'd just had surgery on….)**


	2. The Road Ahead is Long

The next time he woke on his own, the room was brighter, almost blindingly white. He squinted and turned to look at the source, a window to his right, white blinds pulled aside to let the light stream in. He swallowed hard as he tried his best to figure out where he was. A look to his left at a machine that was beeping softly, keeping time with his heart, and then finally a look down at himself.

Panic. That's all he felt then. His left leg was a lump under the blankets, the same arm in a sling strapped to his chest. An IV was taped down on the back of his right hand.

"Hey, it's okay."

His eyes darted up to the corner of the room where Sally sat quietly eating off a plastic tray, fork frozen in her hand hovering above it. "Where am I?" he asked, voice hoarse from his dry throat. He swallowed again, trying not to sound as panicked as he felt. Sally was calm and it helped ease him a little.

"You're in the hospital," she told him smoothly, setting her tray on the window sill and wiping her hands on her jeans. "There was an accident during your race."

"I don't remember that," he breathed, looking down at himself again. "How long has it been?"

"About a day." Sally stood and made her way to the empty chair beside him. "You have a pretty severe concussion. The doctor said you might have a few memory problems."

"You've already told me this," he guessed, feeling his heart calming in his chest when she nodded. She lowered herself into the chair that was already close to the bed beside him on his right.

"Couple pins in your leg, broken arm, severe concussion, punctured lung," she summed up, ticking off on her fingers. "Pretty solid wreck."

"My car?" he asked hesitantly, but Sally smiled a little, like she'd been expecting it.

"Mater has every part at his lot," she assured him. "There's not much you can do about it right now, and it'll be there when you're ready for it."

Lightning ran his good hand down his face and sighed. "How many times have we had this conversation?"

"This is twice," she murmured. "They've been waking you up every half hour or so. Sometimes you remembered the wreck, sometimes you didn't. But this is the first time you didn't remember being in the hospital."

Lightning leaned forward, pushing against the bed with his good arm and struggled to sit up. Sally caught his shoulder and dug through the blankets for the remote to adjust the back of the bed. Lightning waited impatiently as it slowly came up to meet him, helping him sit up.

"How long am I going to be here for?" Lightning asked quietly as Sally moved to retrieve her food tray from the corner.

She took a seat back in the chair before she responded, taking a breath. "Your doctor said it might be a while, Light," she said, letting out a breath of air. "You did a lot of damage, especially to your head and your knee. You're going to need physical therapy at the very least, but you might need another surgery down the line."

"This is literally the last thing I needed right now," he grumbled after a few moments of silent brooding.

"I know," she whispered sadly. "I know."

Lightning rubbed his palm across his jaw, frowning at the stubble on his face, marking just how much time it'd been since his wreck, since he'd been _aware_. God, he wished Doc were there. He wished nothing more than to have him coaching him through this, more than anything in the world.

"I know what you're thinking," Sally murmured, taking his hand in hers. "I might not know what to expect, or understand completely what you're going through, but I'm here and I will go through all of this with you. Whatever you have to go through to get back out on the track, I'm with you."

Lightning leaned towards her and she met him halfway, lingering as their lips touched briefly. "Thanks, Sal," he whispered, afraid to speak at all. He felt like his whole career had just come to a screeching halt. Sure, it had felt like it was slowly falling apart, one rookie replacement at a time, but this— _this_ felt like death. The death of his career. And he was teetering dangerously between letting it die and fighting to keep it alive.

But Doc's words kept echoing in his head. _I didn't come all this way to see you quit._ He was _positive_ he'd heard Doc before, during the fragmented memories between the crash and now. He was sure of it. Would he be disappointed if he just let it all end with that race? Or would he have wanted Lightning to finish out the way he never could—leaving it all on the track with not a single thing to regret?

Doc had always been resentful for being forced out of racing. He'd never had a choice in the matter. Would he have been disappointed if Lightning just…let it go and stopped trying? He knew his sponsors wouldn't just abandon him the way Doc's had. But would he be welcomed back by anyone else?

What would Doc have told him to do?

The worst part was never getting to know…

-x-

Rain pelted the window behind Sally, the quiet pitter patter echoing loudly in the room. She was at a loss. She felt helpless and useless. There wasn't anything she could think of to say that would lift his spirits, and while she felt like he had some sort of right to be in an awful mood, she just wished she could do something to make him smile at the very least.

She'd made the mistake of letting him turn the TV on. That had ended as horribly as one could imagine. The hospital had the racing channels, which played his wreck nonstop. He'd watched expressionless as the car tumbled down the straightaway and came to a rocky stop. She could even pick out herself jumping down from the stand and tearing across the field to get to him, Mater and the others close behind.

"I should let someone know I'll be okay," he'd muttered, staring up as the announcer spoke to a co-anchor about what they'd seen before moving onto how the rest of the race had ended.

Sally said nothing, but noticed the twitch in Lightning's cheek when they started talking about Storm and his current win streak. She reached across the bed and plucked the remote out of his good hand and quickly turned the TV off entirely.

"I was watching that," he grumbled as she set the remote out of his reach on the tray table.

"I talked briefly with Rusty and Dusty last night about releasing a statement. I gave them a brief confirmation that you were pretty banged up, but would recover. Beyond that, it's up to you," Sally told him. "You have Twitter. Or we could have the Rust-Eze guys release a follow up statement from you."

Lightning blinked down at the bed. "I don't…what if…"

"You still have fans, friends—people worried about you."

"But for how long?"

Sally frowned. "You still have _friends_. People in the circuit worried about you. The town. Cal, Bobby, Junior…"

Lightning nodded slowly. "I'll put something on Twitter later, maybe."

"I'll bring your phone by when I swing by the hotel. You know, I'm surprised they've been letting me stay after visiting hours," Sally mused. She watched as he shifted with his good hand to sit up straighter.

"I'm not," he mumbled distractedly, reaching behind him to fix the strap of the sling that had rolled up when he moved. "You're listed as my next of kin." He didn't miss the look of disbelief Sally gave him and rolled his eyes.

"When did you do that?" she demanded gently, reaching over and fixing the strap so it would lay flat. "As your lawyer, those changes are my _job_."

"Well, this was before you were my lawyer, technically." He leaned back against the pillows and shut his eyes. "Doc is still listed, too. Haven't found the…time or whatever to remove him."

Sally crossed her legs, leaning her chin in her hand and her elbow on her knee. "I'm glad you put me down, though," she murmured. Lightning cracked one eye open and rolled his head towards her. "Must have been pretty confident I'd stick with you."

He let out a breath of a laugh, genuine amusement on his face now. "Oh, yeah. I knew you were so gone. The minute you first saw me. Head over heels."

A knock at the doorframe interrupted them and Lightning lifted his head as the doctor walked in with a nurse. "How are you feeling?" Dr. Meyer asked, picking the chart off the end of the bed and flipping through a few of the recent notes. "Nurse's said you've been doing well, not a lot of pain."

"Uh…" Lightning glanced at Sally briefly, a confused look on his face. "Kind of numb, mostly."

Dr. Meyer grinned. "Do you remember meeting me yesterday?"

Lightning frowned and shook his head. "You look familiar, but I don't remember anything specifically. Should I be worried?"

"Well, memory loss is never good," Dr. Meyer began before launching into a discussion with Lightning over the plans for the next few weeks of recovery. Sally sat back silently as he went through the broken arm, the pins in his leg, the possible surgery on his knee once the cast came off, and therapy beyond that.

The whole time Sally watched the interaction, taking note of Lightning's obvious Press Demeanor throughout the whole thing. She could tell he was upset and anxious. She watched, slowly, as the interest fell off Lightning's face.

Lightning's sudden sarcastic, biting tone had Sally on edge, uncrossing her legs nand sliding to the edge of her seat. "So, let me see if we're on the same page here—"

"Lightning," Sally warned, prepared to intervene.

"—you're basically telling me that I'm out for the rest of the season," he finished, eyes narrowed at the doctor standing unaffected at the foot of the bed.

Dr. Meyer nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry, but even with _just_ the broken arm, or _just_ the broken leg, or _just_ the healing lung and ribs…you'd be out for the rest of the season. But with all of that combined," he glanced down at the chart in his hands again, "you'll have to work hard to get back on your feet in time for the new season in February."

Lightning let out a harsh breath and glared down at himself.

"How do we go about this?" Sally asked for him. "Where do we start if the end goal is for him to be able to participate in the first race of the season?"

Dr. Meyer pressed his lips together and nodded, crossing his arms across his chest. "Well, the bright side is that all of this will heal at the same time. Once the cast on the arm comes off in about 4 weeks, he can switch to crutches. The leg should be healed in about 6 to 8 weeks and at that point we can assess when he can have his knee surgery—if he even needs it," he explained. "After that, just keep on top of your physical therapy and don't _over_ do it, and you should be alright to race."

Lightning swallowed hard and nodded silently.

"Really, Light, it's going to be okay—" Sally began when the doctor had left and shut the door behind him after tinkering with the IV stand for a few seconds.

"Is it?" he snapped at her, eyes shooting up from his lap to meet hers. "How do you know?"

She frowned at the sudden ferocity. "I don't," she admitted slowly. "But I know things might look bleak now because you're only at the beginning of this, but I promise you there will be an end and things will go back to a relative normal."

"Sally," he groaned.

"It might not be the same, no," she continued, ignoring him. "But we'll find a way. Nothing is decided, nothing is over."

Lightning sunk down into his pillows, his good arm gently cradling the hurt one, and he turned his face away from her to watch the rain race down the window. "You don't know that…"

Sally sat there for a second on the edge of her seat, watching him silently. "You know I love you, right?"

"I know. I love you, too," came his mumbled reply, but he still didn't turn to look at her.

She sighed and stood, slowly collecting her things and dumping them into her purse. "I'm going to go back to the hotel for a bit, catch everyone up before they head home in the morning," she told him, stopping at the foot of his bed. "I'll be back around dinner. Other than your phone, do you need anything?"

Lightning pressed his lips together and shook his head.

Frustrated, Sally left without another word.

-x-

They weren't too far from home. The race had been in southern Nevada, but it was far enough that the doctors didn't think the stress of moving Lightning would be worth it just yet. Dr. Meyer had told her by the middle of the week he would see about transferring Lightning to a hospital in Phoenix so that he'd be a bit closer to home.

Sally could hear the muffled conversations of everyone gathered in one of the hotel rooms in the block they'd rented as she passed, and instead of going straight to hers and Lightning's room, she knocked on Flo's instead.

The older woman grinned when she opened the door dressed in sweatpants and slippers and recognized Sally. Sally smiled at how relaxed everyone was when they traveled to the closer tracks for Lightning's races. "Come on in, Honey. We all finished eating but take a seat and I'll heat you something up."

"Thanks, Flo," she murmured. She walked down the little hall and into the main room of the suite. Mater, Ramone, and Sheriff were all collected on the couch, empty paper plates and red solo cups littering the coffee table of the sitting room.

"Oh, hey Miss Sally," Mater greeted with a smile. "How's he doin'?"

"He'll be alright," she confirmed with a faint nod. "Little disappointed in himself and worried about his career right now…"

"That's the last thing that should be on his mind right now," Flo commented as she scoops some leftover chicken and rice out of a container and onto a paper plate for Sally. Sally just nodded and gestured helplessly.

"He gonna be able to race again?" Ramone asked softly, voicing everyone's thoughts.

Sally took a seat in the little armchair along the wall. "The doctor said yes, but not soon," she summarized. "Once the cast on his arm comes off, he can use crutches, and once the leg cast comes off he'll probably need a surgery on his knee which is going to knock him off his feet for another few weeks."

"Knee surgeries are no joke," Flo called from the little kitchenette. "It's gonna take a little longer than a few weeks to recover from that."

"So he's out for the rest of this season," Sheriff guessed darkly, turning to Sally, who only nodded in confirmation.

Mater visibly deflated, sinking back into the couch. "Well," he said slowly, taking off his cap to run a hand through his hair. "I can see why he's worried, I guess."

"You going back to the hospital tonight?" Sheriff asked.

"Yeah, after I eat and shower I'll probably go visit for a bit," Sally told him as Flo handed her a plate of food.

"The boys are drinking, I brought wine," Flo murmured. "You want a little?" Sally nodded with a smile before turning back to Sheriff.

"Why, did you want to come?" she asked.

Sheriff smirked and shifted to prop his foot up on his other knee. "Can't let him turn into the Grump. Mater and I will tag along tonight and keep you company."

"I don't know," Sally muttered around a bite of food, remembering how upset he'd been as she left. She didn't want to force him to keep up a front and tire himself just to please the others.

"Wait, why am I goin'?" Mater asked, confused.

"You don't wanna go?" Ramone asked with a chuckle. "I thought you were his best friend."

"I _am_ his best friend," Mater defended, sitting up straight. "Of course I'm gonna go. Why aren't you an' Flo comin'?"

Ramone stood and collected the empty plates. "Lightning doesn't need a mob of us," he explained with a shrug. "Flo can only leave the café for so long." He shot an apologetic look towards Sally. "We chipped in and added a few days to your hotel reservation. We weren't sure how much longer he'd be here…"

"Thank you." Sally smiled gratefully, a little inwardly embarrassed she had completely forgotten about checkout in the morning.

"I'm gonna stay an extra day or two," Sherriff added. "Don't want to leave you completely alone. Mater's gonna ride back with Flo and Ramone."

"But if you need _anything_ , you call," Flo told Sally and she handed her a plastic cup of red wine and took Ramone's vacated seat on the couch.

"Let me eat and take a quick shower," Sally told them. "Lightning wants his phone to send out a quick tweet for his fans that are probably worried, so don't let me forget that."

"Take your time," Sherriff grunted, leaning back into the couch. "We're not going anywhere, and Lightning sure isn't, either." He let out a chuckle when Flo elbowed him. "Too soon? You're the one who always says that kid could be on his _death bed_ and he'd still be tweeting."

"And I managed to bite my tongue," she hissed back lowly.

Despite everything of the last two days, Sally still managed to laugh.

 **Excuse me if my medical nonsense is off. All I have to go on experience-wise was my own surgery 14 years ago and my boyfriends dad who is an emergency room physician and likes to tell us about The Crazies that come in…SO JUST ROLL WITH IT…pls**


	3. Homecoming

**Stayed home sick for the third day. I'm going into work tomorrow, sick or not. The team is going to Smokey's BBQ AND I AM NOT MISSING THAT. Also, didn't realize I'd only posted 2 chapters….oops. I've had the next 3 written out already…**

CHAPTER 3 ****

"They're going to transfer you to a hospital closer to us in Arizona tomorrow," Sally announced with a sigh, dropping down into her usual chair by her bed and pulling a small brown bag from her purse. She handed it over to Lightning, who couldn't help but crack a small smile at the hastily written _To Lightning Love RS_ on the front.

"How long until I can go _home_?" Lightning pressed, pulling a foil wrapped burger from the bag and setting it on the lunch tray hovering above his legs.

Sally sighed. "It won't be more than another week or so," she said. "Especially if you do well during the transfer, but a car ride is going to be a lot worse than an ambulance ride, Light."

Lightning only grunted and bit into his food.

"Mater wanted to put peanut butter on that," she murmured, pulling out her own food from a separate bag.

Lightning froze and lifted the edge of the bun to inspect. "Why?"

"To make sure you could still taste things," Sally chuckled.

"I have memory problems, not _sensory_ problems," Lightning grumbled bitterly. "Who do I have to thank?"

"Everyone within earshot."

Lightning nodded solemnly.

The silence of the room wrapped around them thickly, and Sally struggled, not for the first time, trying to find something to say to break it. It had quickly become the norm for these awkward silences to occur. Maybe they were only awkward for her, because she could see him struggling to cope, but couldn't figure out and effective way to help.

"Do you want me here tomorrow?"

"Hmm?" Lightning paused his eating to look up at her.

"I can't ride in the ambulance with you, but—"

"Go home," he said earnestly. "You've been sleeping in a hotel for over a week, you've been here every day. Go home. Sleep in your own bed."

"You're sure?" The idea was something she'd craved—her own pillows and blankets and sounds. Familiarity. Something to help her feel like thinks _were_ going to be normal, so she could feel more confident when she told Lightning that.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Lightning smiled genuinely. "I'll see you in Flagstaff tomorrow, and you can bring me more lunch from the café."

Sally chuckled. "Sans peanut butter."

Lightning groaned. "If he had done that and you didn't warn me, I would have died."

"Please don't joke like that."

"I would have. My soul would have left my body, and I'd be stuck wandering these halls for eternity."

"Because Mater put peanut butter on a burger."

Lightning shoved the last of the burger in his mouth and nodded. "You can't taint the best burger in Arizona like that. It's treason."

Sally hummed and leaned back in her chair, glad he was having a good day. "Well, I'll try to sneak you more at the hospital in Flagstaff, but no promises. Their rules about outside food might not be as lax as it is here."

"I'm sure I can work something out with the staff." He pulled out his phone and she saw him pull up Twitter.

"Your announcement made some big waves last night."

"I forgot I posted something," he mumbled, pulling up his own timeline and hastily scanning the thread he'd posted around nine the night before. When he finished, he scrolled down to all the replies. Very few negative comments, which was surprising for Twitter. He never paid much mind to comments, most were usually trolls.

Lots of photos of him posing with fans. Hundreds. Over six thousand replies, nearly all hoping for a speedy recovery.

"I told you that you would still have fans," Sally murmured.

Lightning swallowed hard. "Yeah. You did."

"This isn't the fifties anymore. What happened to Doc was a product of the times. Out of sight, out of mind. It was easier for him to be forgotten, unfortunately. With the internet, everything is so close and instant, there was no way people were going to forget you overnight."

"Do you really think this is possible?" he whispered, scrolling through the comments still, liking every comment he could.

"I do."

Lightning pressed his lips together for a moment and scrolled back to the top where Junior had replied with a stupid photo of their group when they were trapped on the side of a cliff a few years before and Lightning had taken to Twitter for help. _Glad to hear you're okay, man. Thinking of you from NC,_ he'd written.

They'd been forgotten by the industry, despite what Sally was trying to tell him. None of his friends had been able to hold onto their sponsors. Just like Doc…

-x-

Sally watched over the next two weeks Lightning was in the hospital. While he grew stronger physically, his left arm still in a cast, but leaving the sling, trips around the hospital in a wheel chair—Sally watched as he seemed to slip through her fingers mentally. He had his ups and downs, but the downs were low and the ups were never very high.

He wasn't necessarily a shell of the Lightning she knew, he just seemed so utterly lost that she didn't know what to do with him or how to help him. Mater was the best at getting his spirits uplifted, and it made her smile to watch how effortlessly that man could do it without even trying. She found herself asking him to accompany her on a lot of her visits.

"Come on, Bud," Mater grinned, adjusting the tattered ball cap on his head. "Smile a bit. You're finally leaving this place. We don't gotta slip you food no more."

Lightning let out a low chuckle as he slid from bed into the wheelchair Sally was holding steady with a small cringe, lips pressed into a thin line. When he was finally in the chair and Sally was working on fixing the contraption under his leg he said, "You have no idea how much I appreciated that, Mater."

"Yeah, well, that whatever-it-was they was servin' you didn't look nearly as good as the burgers Flo was makin' us," Mater mumbled with a solid nod. "But got _damn_ this place can make some jell-o."

Sally let out a laugh at that one. "Well, when we get home Flo can make you whatever you want."

"Fries," Lightning sighed, leaning back to look up at her. "Fries and the messiest bar-b-que sandwich I can get my hands on."

"Oh! And some of them mashed taters she makes with the bacon—"

"Yes!" Lightning cut him off, snapping a finger at Mater in more excitement than Sally had seen from him all week. "Those, too."

"There ya go!" Mater grinned, following Sally as she pushed Lightning out into the hall towards the nurse's station. "We'll get you some _real_ food, then you can go sleep as much as you want."

Lightning pursed his lips as Sally stopped and stepped up to the counter to hand him some forms to sign. "Food sounds great, but I was hoping to see my car after."

Sally and Mater froze, sharing a look.

But it was Mater who spoke up. "Bud, I would be more 'an happy to show you, but are you sure—"

"Positive," Lightning interrupted firmly, humor gone from his face for a second before he forced a smile back on. "I want to get it out of the way, see what I'm dealing with."

"Stickers—"

Lightning pushed the clipboard of signed release forms up onto the counter. "I'm going to be out of commission for a while, Sal," he explained softly. "It's not some masochistic thing to try and put myself down. I can't even push myself around for a few more weeks. I'm going to need something to occupy my time for a bit."

As a lawyer, Sally knew she could argue that—and win—but decided against it. "Just promise me you'll take it one step at a time."

He blinked at her for a long second before looking down at his leg for another beat, then back to her. "I don't think there's any other way I can physically do that right now _except_ one step at a time," he said to her seriously. Sally stared at him blankly for a moment trying to figure out if he was serious until the corner of his mouth lifted up in a lopsided grin.

She swatted his good arm lightly. "I'm serious."

"I know," he chuckled. "One step at a time. Well, first step is to go home. I'm sick of this place."

She moved behind his wheelchair and began to push him towards the doors. "I know, I am, too."

He hadn't taken the sight of his car as hard as she thought he would. He'd been silent for a long moment as they stood in the entrance to Mater's lot. His car was up front, easily recognizable as twisted pieces of bright red and yellow metal. He'd asked Sally quietly to wheel him around to the other side, closer, and ran his hand along a few parts.

"It might take a bit for me to be able to get two hands on it and see what kind of damage we're _really_ dealing with on the inside," he was muttering, leaning dangerously far over the side of the wheelchair to try and peek under the hood.

"Engine is completely intact," Mater said from behind him, hands shoved in his jean's pockets. "Might look perty bad on the outside, but them insides did not take as big of a beating."

Lightning shot him a look. "Speak for yourself," he grumbled, glancing at his casts.

Sally hummed, crossing her arms. "The doctor thinks you hit your head when the car hit the wall and you passed out for the rest of the crash. Being unconscious, your limbs weren't tense so it ended up doing more damage."

"I heard his crack pot theory," Lightning mumbled, using his good arm to pull the wheel chair down along the side of the car towards the driver window. "That's not how it happened."

"Oh?" Sally prompted, but Lightning didn't elaborate and she sighed.

"There's some perty bad damage to the frame," Mater added in as Lightning pushed away finally. "We'll have to strip it down and repair that before worrying about the insides anyways."

Lightning let out a loud breath. "This car was a pain in the ass to get all the parts for the first time," he muttered, scratching the scruff on his chin.

"Yeah, well, you wasn't famous then," Mater reminded him, turning to leave. "I already got some places calling _me_."

"You?" Lightning looked surprised, motioning helplessly to Sally, asking to follow him as he walked away. "What do you mean people are contacting you?"

"Well, I'm your mechanic," Mater stated as they caught up to him.

" _Doc_ was my mechanic," Lightning challenged. Doc had been the only other person he'd trusted to touch the inside of that car. Since his passing, he hadn't let anyone else even try. Maybe that's why it had started not performing as well as it had been…

"Bud, I don't mean nothin' by it, but when everyone saw me haulin' your car off the track…"

"It's what we told the officials to get them to leave Mater alone," Sally explained gently. "With all the press nearby by then, any one of them could have overheard."

Lightning still looked disgruntled. "That's not even the point," Mater declared.

"Then what's the point, Mater?" Lightning asked dryly as they walked up to Flo's.

Mater held open the door for Sally to push Lightning in. "You've got all kinds of places offering to donate parts. And new parts at that!"

"Cal and Junior have both called me personally to let you know they're willing to help in any way they can," Sally told him as they stopped at a table in the corner.

Lightning stood suddenly on his good leg, using the table to steady himself, and swung onto the bench so that his casted foot dangled off the end. "Neither of them are even racing anymore," he grunted, adjusting himself so his back was against the window. "Cal's working with The King at that camp of theirs in North Carolina."

"Yeah," Sally nodded, sliding in next to Mater on the other side of the booth. "But Cal and his uncle are working on cars, he said they've been tricking out some people's mustangs and stuff. They'd be able to help you track down whatever parts you need."

"We'll see," he grumbled. "I built that car on my own when I was like seventeen. I don't think they even make some of those parts anymore." His face turned sour and Sally frowned. "All those newer cars with their stupid tech…"

"Don't get so worked up about it right now," she advised as Flo made her way towards them. "You still have a long recovery ahead of you and a team of people willing to help."

"You keep reminding me," he mumbled quietly, leaning his chin in his hand on the table.

"I don't want you to forget," she smirked before turning her attention to a beaming Flo.

"Now look who we have here," she said with a grin. "You're looking better than the last time saw you, Honey."

Lightning lifted a shoulder in response, but Sally was content that he at least made an effort to look friendly towards her. "Thanks for all the food Sally and Mater snuck me," he told her. "Might have starved otherwise."

Flo put her hands on her hips. "Oh, they're just lucky I didn't get a peek at what they were serving you."

"Well, I appreciate all the help from everyone," he said honestly.

"Honey, without you, this place would have closed up years ago," she declared, gesturing to the restaurant around them. "Your racing career has saved this place, I'll be damned if I don't do something to repay you for what you did for all of us."

"I messed up your road," Lightning said flatly.

"Oh, pshh," Mater waved. "You done fixed that already."

Flo let out a laugh anyways. "Well, we've long forgiven that, Hun. We got more outta you coming to us than we lost." She winked at Sally. "Some of us more than others."

"Oh, god, Flo," Sally sighed, running her hands down her face.

Flo ignored her and turned back to Lightning. "What'll you have today? Anything you want."

"Pulled pork sandwich, fries, coke," he listed off bore sitting up to reach awkwardly for the ketchup bottle near his shoulder and shaking it. "More ketchup."

Flo nodded slowly and looked at Sally and Mater. "I'll have what he's having!" Mater declared.

"I'm fine," Sally waved Flo's expectant look away. "I'll just pick at his fries. I ate before we picked him up."

"Don't touch my fries," Lightning warned and Sally rolled her eyes. "She's right here, order your own fries."

"I'm fine," Sally reiterated for Flo, who let out a laugh as she walked away to put their orders into the kitchen. Lightning sighed.

"You know, you're lucky you have a good personality," he said flippantly, leaning into his palm again.

"Doesn't hurt that I'm pretty cute, too." She winked at him, playing along, and gave him a playful finger gun. "Ka _chow._ "

"Not as cute as me, though," Mater said proudly.

"Of course, Mater," Sally laughed. Lightning only offered a smile behind his fingers and Sally pursed her lips. His mood was tanking fast. She was pleased he'd been having a good day thus far, but really wondered how long that would last. The first couple of days after the wreck were the hardest, but he'd had more good days than bad, but his bad days were _bad_.

Lightning and Mater prattled on about this and that, and Sally just took to listening to him talk, noting the slightly bored, almost disinterested tone despite the smile plastered on his face. The fingers dangling from the cast slung to his chest twitched occasionally, and she wondered if he was beginning to get antsy.

Day one of many, many weeks of recovery. She knew it would be rough, but she had at least expected the first day to be the easiest mood-wise. Maybe she had just not thought about the fact Lightning would be figuring everything out in one day. A new routine, a new method to doing everything he used to do on a daily basis at home.

Flo returned to their table with drinks, and then a second time with two plates she slid in front of the men. She saw Mater frown, eyes flicking from Lightning's plate back to his own.

"Hey, how come I ain't got them baby buns?" he asked, looking up at Flo.

"Honey, you can use both hands," she laughed. "I gave Lightning sliders so he could use one hand."

Lightning did just that, picking up one of the three mini pulled pork sandwiches with one hand. "I appreciate it," he said with probably the first genuine grin he'd put on his face in days. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Lightning would need to figure things out, but she clearly did, too.


	4. Family

**This one might be a lil slow. But I've had all these chapters written for quite a bit lol oops.**

CHAPTER 4 ****

Lightning tried so hard to keep himself on an emotional high when they left the hospital, but it was draining and he found himself exhausted by dinnertime. The sight of his car basically demolished had crushed whatever little hope he'd had left in his chest. Without Doc, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to get it fixed _right_. Without Doc, he might never be able to race again…

That was the first night since the wreck that he saw Doc.

He'd been dreaming he was standing in front of his car at Mater's lot. It was beyond repair, he kept thinking. The frame needed heavy repairs, who knew what kinds of damage the inside had sustained, and he didn't feel like the engine would be as okay as Mater had claimed he thought it was.

"What are you moping for?"

Lightning spun on his heel to see Doc standing behind him looking ready for a race. He had on his old Hudson Hornet racing jacket, a pair of silver aviators over his eyes. Even with them on, Lightning could see his mentor looking down at him, a frown on his face.

"I'm not moping," Lightning defended without thinking.

"Sure looks like you are."

Lightning gestured vaguely to the car. "It's probably not even salvageable."

"Says who?" Doc challenged, moving to stand next to him in front of the car. "You can do it if you want to."

Lightning rolled his eyes. "Well, yeah, I mean—"

"No, boy, _I_ mean if you _really_ wanted that car fixed, you'll be able to pull it off," Doc clarified. "I did."

He thought back to the sleek body of the Hornet and suddenly it was there in the lot next to Lightning's car, looking as glorious as the first day Lightning saw it in person, realizing it was the famous car that had won more races than anyone else on old dirt tracks.

"You think the car came out of the wreck without a scratch?" Doc murmured, his own eyes never leaving the navy car.

Lightning glanced at Doc, and when he looked back, Doc's car was just as twisted and crumpled as his own.

"I was in the hospital even longer than you. Took me months of recovery before I could even begin working on the car. Add on another six or eight of repairs…"

"I built this car by myself," Lightning whispered.

"And you can fix it yourself," Doc commented, crossing his arms. He turned slowly to face Lightning. "But don't be stupid, Hotrod. You have a whole team of people on your side now. You don't _need_ to do it yourself."

He felt a smile slowly grow on his face as the thought of the townspeople crossed his mind. He looked up at Doc and studied the man before him carefully, realizing this was a dream, a manifestation of his own imagination and longing to see his mentor.

"I miss you," he choked out carefully. He pinched his eyes shut and ran his palm over his face. "I wish you were here."

A silence washed over them and Lightning opened his eyes, almost afraid Doc had vanished. But he wasn't. He was still staring down at Lightning with his arms crossed.

 _I'll always be here, Kiddo_ , a voice echoed as everything around him began to fade. _I'll always be watching…_

Their surroundings darkened, but Doc was the last thing Lightning saw before everything vanished.

-x-

After that first night, Lightning had trouble keeping himself in good spirits for much of his time around the others. Doc's words from his dream echoed in his head constantly, as if the man was speaking to him right there, as clear as Sally was talking to him.

"It's been almost a week," she was saying. "I scheduled your physical therapy for tomorrow afternoon."

"That's fine," he muttered behind his glass of water. He was slouched in a rolling chair Sally had pulled into her office at the Cone. He had his good arm wrapped around a glass of water on the desktop and was chewing distractedly on the straw.

Sally's eyes flicked towards him at his quiet response before she returned to her work on the computer. "I can take you somewhere else if you're bored here," she told him gently. "It's no problem."

"I'm fine."

Sally leaned back in her own chair and spun to give him her full attention. She raised her eyebrows expectantly when he simply stared back at her.

"Where am I gonna go that I'm not in the way bothering someone?"

"You're not bothering me and you're not in the way," Sally defended. "I put you right there because that is specifically not in my way—"

"That's not what I meant," he grumbled.

She reached out and grabbed his hand to still his fingers tapping on the glass. "Then tell me what you meant," she said softly, scooting closer.

Lightning's lips pressed into a line for a moment as he considered whether or not to voice his latest thoughts to her. It'd been a week since coming home from the hospital, and he was slowly realizing what life would be like without racing.

"I'm useless," he finally breathed and Sally fought the urge to roll her eyes. She was listening to him right now, not reacting or judging.

"You're not _useless_ ," she urged, squeezing his hand. "You're _limited_ and there is a very distinct difference."

"I don't like it."

"Few more weeks and you'll have more use of your arm, then you can wheel yourself around. There's plenty for you to do at the HQ."

Lightning leaned back in his chair and sighed, a little frustrated that she wasn't getting it and he was going to have to say it out loud. He wasn't sure he was ready to say it out loud.

"You can talk to me, Stickers," Sally murmured, pale brows pulled together, and suddenly he felt even worse, like now he was letting her down even more.

He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Without racing, I am probably the most useless person in this town," he admitted so quietly he hoped she hadn't heard.

"You're not," Sally replied automatically, a little surprised.

He looked up at her. "What am I supposed to do with my life if I can't race anymore? This is the only thing I'm good at, I'm not ready to give it up."

"So don't."

Lightning rolled his eyes. "You aren't getting it," he groaned.

"Then help me understand," she begged, growing frustrated herself.

"I don't know _how_ ," he snapped. "I don't understand half of what's going on with me, none of what might happen, _nothing_." He dropped his face into his hand and rubbed his palm into his eyes. "This would be so much easier if I could just talk to him."

Sally frowned, but didn't say anything. What could she say? She wasn't who he needed, who he wanted right now and it was crystal clear now that nothing she said, no fancy wording could help him right now, because it wasn't her voice he wanted to hear.

"I'm sorry," she finally settled on. "I'm sorry, but I can't help you there, and I don't know how to fix this. But I'm here and I love you and _anything_ you need, I will try my hardest, alright?"

"I want to go to the garage," he muttered, dropping his hand into his lap.

Sally stood and picked up her keys with a soft smile. "Let's go." She pushed his wheelchair towards him so he could hop to it. "Not that I'm trying to get rid of you," she amended quickly seeing his stony expression. She stopped him before he could drop down into the wheel chair and cupped his face so he was forced to look at her. "I would love for you to stay and keep me company, but I want you to do what you need. If you need to be alone and go through some of Doc's things, well I say it's about time."

At that he pulled away and lowered himself down into the wheelchair, not looking back up at her. "You make it sound like I'm snooping through his things," he mumbled, adjusting the brace on his knee.

"No, it's not like that at all," she shrugged, moving to push him towards the door. "I just think it's something you should have done years ago."

Lightning was quiet as she pushed him down the street. "It's been _years_ ," he finally said out loud.

Sally nodded. "It's been years."

It was hard for Lightning to think about that. The world had kept spinning for _years_ without Doc. He felt his mood dipping even further and he started to regret asking Sally to bring him to the garage, especially when she'd pushed both doors open to let fresh air in and all he saw were boxes. Box after box stacked on top of one another in the corners.

One man's life packed away neatly. One _very important_ man came down to nothing more than stuff in boxes.

"Let me know if you need to me pull any boxes down for you," Sally said quietly, wiggling her phone in her hand. "I'm just across the street."

"Thanks, Sal," he murmured, letting her kiss his cheek before she made the walk back to the Cone.

-x-

"Alright bud," Mater declared, standing in the doorway of the Cozy Cone. "Jus' me 'n you today."

"What?" Lightning asked dumbly, looking over at Sally, who merely shrugged. "Where are we going?"

"I can't tell you, it's a surprise."

Lightning looked down at himself. "I swear, Mater, if I end up covered in cactus tines again—I get this cast of in four days and you are _not_ ruining that for me." He held up his arm and shook it at his friend.

Mater laughed. "Aw, shoot, it ain't nothin' like that. Promise."

"Go easy on him, Mater," Sally laughed, returning to her computer screen as Mater walked to push Lightning's wheelchair towards the door.

"Wha— _Sally!_ I'm being kidnapped!" Sally only laughed in response. "I thought you loved me!"

She looked at him then, but only grinned. "Oh, I do, but you need to get out today. Go hang out with Mater for the afternoon and then I'm going to take you out to dinner."

Lightning glared at her, but she could tell his heart was barely in it. "Better be somewhere good."

"I promise, there will be a kids' menu and crayons," she said with a wink.

"Better be," he grumbled back as Mater pushed him out the door.

He was thankful it was winter and not the bitter scorching summer. That combined with his current situation would probably only serve to make him that much more miserable. He was thankful for the upper-50's weather.

"So, where we headed?" he tried to ask again.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that I may or may not have gotten some of them parts in the mail," he mumbled as they walked away from the cone and towards his lot.

Lightning blinked at him before a grin stretched across his face. "You've been spending too much time with Sally."

Mater laughed. "You're one to talk," he said. "I feel like I never see you anymore."

"Sorry, buddy," Lightning frowned, looking back over his shoulder. "It's just been a little…"

"Oh, I understand. One time, I done broke both arms are the same time."

"What? Really? When?"

Mater chuckled. "It's a long story, there was this alien car that looked like—"

Lightning sighed but couldn't help the smile on his face. "I understand, Mater," he interrupted. "What parts came in?"

"Well," Mater began, listing off a few parts he'd noticed were easy to replace. "I left all the special bits for you, just lemme know what and where to get 'em and I'll order 'em for you. But I figured today, since you still can't use that there arm 'o yours, we'll just start taking it apart and figuring out what's what."

Lightning nodded. "Sounds good, Mater." Aside from Doc, Mater was probably the only other person he would trust touching the inside of his car. And only barely.

Mater led him around the side of his shop building into the fenced-in lot where his car sat in the corner, just as destroyed as the day he saw it a couple weeks back. The hood was propped open, but otherwise it looked relatively left alone. Good, he thought. He was afraid with all the tourism that someone would break in and mess with it.

"Welp," Mater stopped Lightning in front of the car and dropped his hands to his sides loudly. "Where d'you wanna start?"

Lightning grinned up at his friend, so, _so_ grateful he'd kidnapped him for this. If Sally knew he was working on the car already, he knew she'd be a little upset. But he was dying to get his hands…well, hand…into the car and really get a feel for the scope of the work.

"Hey, Mater?" Lightning asked after they'd gotten well into a steady working rhythm. Mater was bent over, head tucked into the hood of the car removing parts one by one. They had pulled an old wooden table around next to Lightning where he could inspect each part carefully.

"Yeah, Bud."

"Do you have family?"

Mater pulled out of the car and straightened, looking at Lightning with a grin. "Well, sure I do! I just talked to my cousin this mornin'."

"They live around here?" Lightning turned a filter over in his hand, not really seeing it.

"Naw," Mater shook his head before ducking back under the hood. "Got a couple cousins in the south east, but most of my family is in Nebraska."

Lightning looked up at that and blinked at his friend. "Nebraska?"

"Uh huh." Mater pulled a part out of the car and turned it over in his hands, pulling a few leaves out of the top of it. "You know anyone in Nebraska?"

"Can't say I do," Lightning mumbled. "I just would have guessed you'd be from the south, like Alabama or Louisiana or something."

"I get that a lot," Mater nodded slowly before walking over and placing the part on the table next to others. "What about you? Where's your family at?"

"I've been on my own for a while, actually," he mused, putting the filter on the table to pick up what Mater had just put down. "Never knew my dad and my mom passed away when I was sixteen."

"Sorry to hear that."

Lightning shrugged. "Made it a bit easier when Doc died, I guess. I _almost_ knew what to expect, but not really."

"Well," Mater grunted, looking over his shoulder. "You got lots of family right here."

"I do," Lightning agreed.


End file.
